UK: Expansion of support for families with high energy bills is key highlight of Chancellor’s budget, says MP Robert Largan

UK: The Member of Parliament for the High Peak, Robert Largan, announced the key highlights of the Chancellor’s budget last week: the expansion of support to help families with high energy bills.

He said the Energy Price Guarantee restricting typical household energy bills to £2,500 a year would be extended for three months until June 2023. This support continues to make a big difference to many High Peak households.

The Government of Rishi Sunak have also committed £ 200 million to bring energy charges for prepayment meters into line with prices for customers paying by direct debit. This will cut energy bills for over 4 million families across the UK by bringing their costs into line with those produced by comparable customers on direct debits, said Robert Largan.

However, these are only short-term measures to help people with the spike in global energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the long term, we need to secure our energy supply and protect against future external shocks. That is why the Government is investing £20 billion during the next two decades in low-carbon energy projects, concentrating on carbon capture and storage.

The MP for High Peak added that achieving energy security will also require getting in and constructing a new generation of nuclear power stations. The Government is rightly focusing on this with the launch of Great British Nuclear to fix the mistakes of the last two 25 years, where Labour and Lib Dem Energy Secretaries failed to commission new nuclear power stations.

“Much more must be done to help households and businesses with energy bills and ensure our energy independence. It won’t happen overnight, but I’m glad we have a government focused on getting this done,” said the MP of High Peak.

He further mentioned, “We’ve introduced an Energy Levy (windfall tax) on oil and gas suppliers, which is raising £52billion in tax to help fund the energy support we’re providing to households and businesses.”